1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique that transmits a driver installation instruction to a client device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a management server that manages a driver update to a client device having a driver corresponding to its device via a network. The management server displays a client list and updates a driver when an administrator who uses the management server manually selects a client to be updated from drivers installed on clients and print port information.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-97302 discloses a management device that manages printer drivers and firmware by registering device information, client information, and driver information. More specifically, the management device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-97302 registers device information, client information, driver information including version information of a driver to be installed on a client. Then, the management device acquires driver information including the version of a driver actually installed on a client at regular intervals to thereby determine whether or not a proper driver has been installed on the client. When the management server determines that a proper version driver has not been installed on the client, the management server updates the driver installed on the client to a proper version driver.
However, when a management device that manually selects a client device for which the driver is to be updated is used, considerable time and labor are required for the administrator if the number of clients for which the driver is to be updated is thousands. Also, when the driver installed on the client device that has been registered in the management server in advance is updated, the following cases may occur because port information associated with a driver installed on the client is not taken into consideration.
Firstly, when a plurality of printer objects each having a different output destination device has been installed on a client device from the identical driver, all the printer objects are updated upon update of the driver. Thus, when there are combinations of firmware mounted on devices and corresponding drivers and firmware mounted on output destination devices is different from one another, combinations of devices and drivers, which are not intended by the administrator, may be made. Secondary, due to device replacement, when the addresses of the output destination devices are identical but corresponding drivers are drivers for devices prior to replacement, unauthorized combinations may be made between devices and drivers. Thus, the conventional management device does not take a combination of firmware mounted on each output destination device and its corresponding driver into consideration.